What Is Life? - Molecular Theory of the Living Cell - page 566

matter-symbol complementarity to functions such as the concept of the conformon
(Chap. 8 ), the molecular model of the cell (Chap. 10 ) , and the cell language theory
(Sect. 6.1.2 ) presented in this topic.

16.6 Life Based on the Information-Energy Complementarity

The theory of life that I have been advocating since the early 1970s is based on the
notion of information-energy complementarity , according to which all goal-
directed, self-organizing chemical reaction-diffusion systems in the Universe,
including the Big Bang, the origin of life, and the evolution of living systems, are
ultimately driven by a complementary union of information and energy (see
Fig. 4.8 ). The third entity for which information and energy are the complementary
aspects was named gnergy in the mid-1980s (Ji 1985a, 1991). Discrete physico-
chemical entities carrying gnergy are called gnergons , which produce heat upon
realizing their associated goal-directed processes, that is, functions. Prominent
examples of gnergons are conformons and IDSs (collectively called dissipatons )
discussed earlier (see Sects. 3.1.2 and 8.3 ). Therefore, it would follow that there is a
one-to-one correlation between gnergons and their conjugate functions , as indicated
by the double arrow in Scheme 16.13 :

Ergons ^ Gnons º Gnergons Functions

(16.13)

where the symbol ^ is introduced in Eq. 2.32 and indicates the complementary
relation between ergons carrying energy (energy particle, e.g., mechanical energy)
and gnons carrying information (information particle, e.g., amino acid sequences of
catalytic domains of proteins). The symbol,

, indicates a definition, and the
double-headed arrow indicates an identity relation . It is evident that Scheme 16.13
is a generalization of the IDS-Cell Function Identity Hypothesis presented in
Sect. 12.5 .
Schemes 16.12 and 16.13 reveal both the similarities and differences between
Pattee's theory and the theory of life presented in this topic. As already noted,
Pattee did not specify any molecular mechanisms of coupling matter - symbol
complementarity to functions. In contrast, Scheme 16.13 invokes the intermediate
entity gnergons as a means of coupling information and energy to functions . The
molecular mechanisms responsible for generating gnergons (e.g., conformons and
IDSs) are discussed in depth in Sects. 8.2 , 8.4 , and 11.4 . But it is important to note
that, in Scheme 16.13 , gnergons and functions are best viewed as synonymous and
represent two sides of the same reality: that is., Genergons and functions exhibit the
M

a

obius relation (see Sect. 6.3.5 ) and possibly other relations as well, including the
principles of closure (Sect. 6.3.2 ) and recursivity (Sect. 5.2.4 ) .
Biological evolution results from coupling processes on both synchronic (devel-
opmental) and diachronic (evolutionary) time scales (see Sect. 15.4 and Fig. 14.3 ).

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